
More Great Tourism Sites for Traveling Spain
We recently wrote about how much better websites in Spain are today and it stirred up interest for more great tourism sites for traveling Spain. Readers have given great recommendations on tourism websites in Spain that get them traveling. Since we create websites, and love Spain and traveling, it’s great to see more engaging websites like these that feature traveling Spain. What’s even better, is sharing about them with you. In your travel lust for Spain, have you come across these websites yet?
What it Takes to Be a Great Tourism Site for Traveling Spain
In no way do we claim to be any kind of ‘website experts’; maybe ‘connoisseurs’..? Since it is one of our businesses, we do consider ourselves to specialists. There are just a few simple things that we think make a great website and that we feel these travel sites for traveling Spain do very well. Those things are:
- Design – The look and feel of the site.
- Content – The quality of the copy and how it’s balanced with images.
- Functionality – The site loads quickly and works well.
All these matter because they combine to create the experience we have with a website. In this case, we’re specifically talking about more great travel sites for traveling Spain. So you can add to the prior criteria:
- Applicable travel tools that are fun and work well
- Good writing that’s informative and engaging
- Conveys the local culture and not a cheesy tourist feeling. In other words, you get a taste and feel for what it is like to actually be there.
For Traveling Spain – Eusko Guide | Basque Country Tourism & Travel Info
Ah…the famed Basque Country. In past years, this region was not as prominent on the travel scene in Spain. Now it’s become synonymous with world-class gastronomy, great surfing, breathtaking landscapes and much, much more. A land full of surprises, arriving on the home page of the website conveys that as well. I first imagined it would be a scene of lush green mountains descending into the churning sea-coast. But instead it’s an impressive full-width image of modern architecture and glistening bright lights along a city canal in an evening scene.
The site’s design is modern and clean, leaving focus on what matters – the topics which organize the layout and great content. While we tend to prefer more warm colors and maybe textures, we find we like this site more and more because it leaves it to the gorgeous photography to convey color and diversity throughout the site. Simplicity and great font-type are the foundation of the site, relying on a clean white background. Another aspect of the design that is done very well is the layout and navigation. There are two menus for navigating the site, featuring scroll animation that takes you down the home page or to new pages.
Going into the copy and balance with images, we tend to think that for a home page there is a lot of copy right away, as soon as you scroll down after arriving at the site. But then one realizes that it’s laid out in ‘blog-post’ fashion and it gives applicable information. Right away from the first paragraphs, one can learn a lot about the Basque country, or as the natives refer to their land, Euskal Herria. We especially love the great map that is just along the right of this section. Click on the “Basque Country Map” and a smaller overlay window opens to reveal a map of the region that greatly helps one understand where it lies in Spain. The map also helped us understand that the Eusko Guide organizes the Basque Country into the Spanish Basque Country, French Basque Country and the Community of Navarre.
One of these sections we particularly like is the “Hotels” section. It doesn’t overwhelm you and starts with a few select lovely hotels of their own choosing, each of various pricing. This is complimented with an efficient Booking.com search engine widget to look for more hotels. Very well-done!
One of our favorite travel tools on a website is a good interactive map. Under the “Places” menu tab in the top menu, the Eusko Guide site provides a great travel map. Clicking on a specific location marker takes you to a new page where you get access to loads of great information about that specific town or city. This is organized with its own menu according to the location’s ‘Overview’, ‘Things To Do’, ‘Eat & Drink’, ‘Hotels’, ‘Get Around’, and ‘Map’.
Overall, we really love how detailed the Eusko Guide Site gets. It’s a wealth of knowledge that’s very helpful and applicable for travel. They also feature great group and private tour services through their site as well. If you’re looking for a new part of Europe to experience, I would highly recommend spending time on this website to consider visiting the Basque Country. With a great travel tool like the Eusko Guide, traveling to the Basque Country is easier than ever before and becomes even more appealing when you get the great preview and information the website provides you with. Enjoy visiting the site and let us know what you think: http://www.euskoguide.com/
For Traveling Spain – Hello Canary Islands | The Canary Islands Tourism Website
When you hear of the Canary Islands, most likely warm, sandy beaches and lush, green mountains come to mind. If not, this website will make sure that it does. The home page is a beautiful background image of an aerial view of one of the islands. Turquoise waters and open skies dominant the backdrop to the vibrant image slider and smaller carousel preview of blog posts below that.
Something that stands out to me is their tagline – Latitude of Life. Since we do branding as well as websites, we appreciate seeing intentional, good branding and how it’s placed on websites. This tagline appeals to us. We like it. Not only that, but the site as a whole visually supports that experience. With that layout built on an aerial-view background image, you certainly get the feeling that you’re on a high “latitude”, getting a spectacular scenic view.
The site’s menu items are not overwhelming and provide an intuitive way to navigate the site. Clicking on a particular slider image tells a story about holidays and upcoming events, so you feel like you’re getting a taste of what it would be like to experience it in person; quite tantalizing. They have planning tools and strongly encourage “Sharing” and engaging with them through various social media platforms.
Something we’ve never heard of, and that they create a unique value around, is what they call “Shinetherapy“. This takes you to an entirely different, but similarly branded and aligned site, called Shineagain.com. If you’re thinking this is some cheesy gimmick, think again and be open. The site features tons of videos and by the end of the first intro video, we realize that this is their way of doing “Public Relations”. The spin their putting on it is, we think, very creative and positive. They’re really taking something that’s been around for a while and making it their own in a way that more directly touches and engages their audiences and markets. Why not, right!?!
Another feature of the site is the ability to create your own free account on the website. You have your own log-in and can set preferences as to what kind of information you get and even prepare your own travel guide. Of course, this also gets you exclusive access to special deals and promotions, encouraging you to make a visit, your reality.
Okay…so you’re cruising through the site and then bang! If you weren’t already enchanted and eager to visit the Canary Islands, you will be once you come across and experience their feature short film they produced called “It all Starts with a Hello”. Holy cow! Talk about impressive. The amazing, high-quality production they put into this short video definitely pays off. It visually tells a story that doesn’t need hardly a word said. So yeah, at first glance of the video feature image, we thought it was a Spanish novella, or soap opera. But disregard that. Gotta admit, yes…every girlish-fantasy is appealed to in this video. And maybe, most men’s fantasies are as well. It can give goosebumps to say the least. From our review of the Extremadura Tourism site (read more here), you’ll see that travel websites in Spain are not cutting corners when it comes to using film and music for their messaging. They’re presence in the travel industry is marked with fantastic storytelling! It’s great to see that the Hello Canary Islands site is doing this so well.
This site is a great experience, loading quickly, providing valuable information and customized resources. It’s visually striking and engaging, pulling at your travel-heart strings to visit there as soon as possible. What has them stand-out is their clear, effective branding and their creativity with services and media. It provides fun engagement with a sense of learning from a trusted source. Spend some time on the site and let us know how soon you find yourself booking your trip there: http://www.hellocanaryislands.com/.
Know of a Great Tourism Site for Traveling Spain?
What things in a travel website keep you coming back? What do you like about these two websites we’ve discussed here? We’d love to hear about other travel websites that you enjoy. They can be focused on Spain or any other part of the world. Thanks for reading and come back soon!
Visit Our Blog Post 'Best Tourism Sites for Visiting Spain'
to learn about the other travel sites we recently reviewed.

Written by Amalia & Eric
Founders & Producers of Move to Traveling
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